Diplomatic and social skills of the player's character.
One of the most fundamental spheres of the player character skills.
Along with stealth and exploration, discussing things with others is the meat and potatoes of the game. Can it get you into trouble ? Yes. Can it get you out of trouble ? Yes. Can it help you learn certain things and details that would otherwise evade you ? Of course ! Is asking something from a stranger usually for free ? Yes, mostly yes. Mostly… Talking to others is not only important, it's a crucial part of life in Aporue.
Being a professional thief is not all about what you can achieve with physical prowess alone. Even if you are a burglar-freelancer, you'll have to learn at least basic communication craftiness if you're ever going to make it anywhere in your unusual livelihood. The same thing applies to you if you're a member of a fellowship or guild.
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Diplomatic and social skills
Available to all specialisations.
Virtually every city and town that has a substantial grouping of professional thieves, also has its own secret “dialects”, used by said thieves. Argot (or popularly, “cant”) can technically use any existing local dialect or colloquial speech as its basis, but the key to its success lies in its vocabulary. Common words or words that could easily reveal criminal/illegal intent are (usually cleverly) replaced by completely different terms - though ones that have been derived with at least some intuitive, logical, metonymical or just punny connection to the original word/expression.
Naturally, a thieving argot (or any argot) develops over time, having a general tendency to reshape, renew and reinvent itself due to the hazards dogging its users: Once an argotic expression becomes too well known to the commoners who weren't supposed to understand it, old expressions are jettisoned and replaced with new ones. Argots have a very vibrant and dynamic existence when it comes to their vocabulary, to the point that it sometimes borders on the ephemeral.
At
this particular point in Aporuean history, Melza has several
prevailing argot conventions among professional thieves. There are
some relatively universal expressions and idioms in place throughout
the whole City, but many guilds and fellowships also develop their
own argot, for the sake of greater safety and discretion, and also
greater ease of use. The table that follows includes some of the more
universal expressions from the Melzan thieving twang.
Examples of Melzan thief argot (cant)
| burr, gap, board | house, dwelling, flat |
| fiss, bug, cranny, loo | safehouse, hideout |
| bread, piss, pissgrub | inn, alehouse, pub |
| cratch, chute, gull | street |
| sore, shiner | alley, back alley |
| plate, tray | yard, courtyard |
| skid, slide, sole, slink | to go, to walk (somewhere) |
| trash, tidy, tuck | to fence loot, sell off loot |
| egg in a basket, eggbasket, tooth | loot cache |
| boiled egg, cracked egg, toothache | damaged loot, damaged goods |
| thistle, nettle, rag, hag | dagger or stabbing weapon |
| strand, lord, lard | sword (usually straight) |
| scythe, shank, shin | sabre or curved sword |
| branch, knot, silk | bow (weapon) |
| snapper, nutmeg, hurdy-gurdy | crossbow |
| skewer, splinter, splint | arrow |
| jolt, peg, pin | (crossbow) bolt |
| finch, inch, pale | fence, middleman, receiver |
| tit, sparrow, fly | squealer, informant |
| threepee | from "purse-and-pocket-pilferer" - pickpocket, cutpurse |
| dross, floss, toss | a thieves's guild boss |
| baldric, boot | ally from a guild, usually armed (e.g. Guard, Brigand) |
| toe, sob, swift, ratcatcher | (common) policeman or patrolman of The Watch |
| flask, flasker, swigger | guard or watchman of The Watch or the Melzan army |
| mutt, pot, clank | Flying Squad or Unrest Quellers member of the Watch |
| forage, porridge | beer or other alcohol |
| cabbage, cabbage soup | coffee or chicory |
| rot, fester, blight | food or meals |
Even with the advance of technology, neither the cultures of Aporue, or any other cultures anywhere in the world for that matter, have invented devices capable of transfering people's voices in an audible fashion. Forget portable radios, even oversized stationary telephones and radios are still being worked. They remain a pipe dream even for the wealthiest reputable folk, so what's a poor professional thief to do ?
Use simple substitutes that have been around for ages, of course. Visual signals, involving flashing signals with tiny mirrors or polished pieces of metal, can prove practical at greater distances and in certain situations. Sadly, unless the conditions are right, these are generally too risky an option to be used stealthily. Audible signals, often involving the use of birdcalls (or very good natural sounds imitation) are also an option, and somewhat of a stealthier one than visual signals. But only if they are done right. An inappropriate use of sounds can still give one away…
Well, if even these simple substitutes are not all that secure, what to use then ? Perhaps some of the oldest communication in the book, of course: Gestures and facial expressions. Silent, not flashy, cost nothing. And unless you run to a distance where no one can make heads or tails of what you're gesturing, they are a very clear and unambiguous communcation methods. Well… Unambiguous only as long as people agree upon a secret code to go with each gesture.
Here's an overview of fairly standardised gesture and facial expressions code in thieving underworld of Melza (some of them come in more than one variation):
| Gesture | Face | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| putting a finger to one's lips | N/A | "Quietly…" |
| putting a finger to one's lips, raising a finger priggishly | N/A | "As quietly as possible…" |
| putting a finger to one's lips | slight nod | "Right, keep going quietly." |
| tapping the nose with an index finger | N/A | "Don't worry. I know…" |
| waving closely towards oneself, pointing at one's foot | frowning, shaking of head | "Slower !" / "Don't rush ahead !" |
| raising a finger, pointing at the floor | frowning | "Caution, a loud floor." |
| shaking one's foot in place, pointing at the floor | grinning sourly | "Caution, a creaky wooden floor." |
| clenching one's fist horizontally, pointing at the floor | frowning | "Caution, a loud stone/cobbled floor." |
| holding one's hand horizontally, pointing at the floor | frowning | "Caution, a loud tiled floor." |
| nod to an object, "bagging" gesture | N/A | "Over to." / "Prehľadaj to." |
| nod to an object, "raking" or "rummaging" gesture | N/A | "Skontroluj to." / "Prehľadaj to." |
| mimicing a spyglass around the eye | N/A | "Nakukni." / "Poobzeraj sa." |
| mimicing a spyglass around the eye, pointing | N/A | "Take a look in that direction." |
| mimicing a spyglass around the eye, pointing at a door | N/A | "Go and have a peek through the keyhole." |
| palm placed behind ear, pointing at a door | N/A | "Eavesdrop behind that door." |
| "pulling down a door handle" gesture, pointing at a door | N/A | "Open that door carefully." |
| brief swing of clenched fist, pointing at a guard | N/A | "Knock him out." |
| brief swing of clenched fist, pointing at a guard | clear wink | "Knock him out, but make sure it's possible." |
| wave-like gesture with a hand, optional pointing | N/A | "Flowing water…" / "River. / Stream." |
| waving hand as if against smoke, brief "throwing" gesture | N/A | "Throw a smokebomb." |
| brief "throwing" gesture | frantic, exaggerated blinking | "Throw a flashbomb." |
| backhanded wipe in front of eyes, brief "throwing" gesture | N/A | "Throw a flashbomb." |
| covering mouth with palm, brief "throwing" gesture | N/A | "Throw a gasbomb." |
| quickly flipping wrist upward, brief "throwing" gesture | N/A | "Throw a grenade." |
| waving hand as if against smoke, brief palm downward gesture | N/A | "Place a smokemine." |
| brief palm downward gesture | frantic, exaggerated blinking | "Place a flashmine." |
| backhanded wipe in front of eyes, brief palm downward gesture | N/A | "Place a flashmine." |
| covering mouth with palm, brief palm downward gesture | N/A | "Place a gasmine." |
| quickly flipping wrist upward, brief palm downward gesture | N/A | "Place a mine." |
| brief palm downward gesture, "turning a dial" gesture * | N/A | "Set the timer on the mine." |
(* - the amount of time for the timer is indicated by also showing a certain number of fingers. Each finger represents a different shorter Aporuean time unit. One finger usually refers to a thanker, two fingers to a blesser. Holding a finger (or fingers) in a crooked, 90° bent position, means half the amount of that time unit.)
So, let's imagine you and maybe one or two of your fellow burglars are already taking part in some heist or proverbial catacomb-crawl. Let's imagine a situation occurs where you can't rely on gestures and facial expressions. You need to get verbal. Is it too risky or not ? Well, that depends. The answer is context-sensitive.
If you feel or think someone (or, heaven forbid, something) could hear you very easily, with your cover getting blown or at least compromised quickly, try to avoid verbal communication. If you feel or think that someone (or something) doesn't have much of a chance to hear you if you speak up in what amounts to careful whispers… then speak up to your companions in said careful whispers. It's all a matter of common sense, knowing your current surroundings and staying vigilant, and being willing to sometimes sacrifice utmost sneakiness for effective communication and leadership.
Obviously, if you start running around and hollering in an already hostile or potentially dangerous environment, expect bad stuff to come your way, sooner or later.
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There are no character levels. The amount of experience you can invest
in a particular skill is always just a certain dose. You increase skill
values individually, and you can spend experience into more than just
one skill, but this is dependent on how much experience you have, so you
still have to choose wisely based on what you might currently need.
Improving a skill is largelly down to performing a skill regularly and
being successful at your actions. However, there's a difference between
experience gained through training or performing an action over and
over, and experience gained "in the field", in a "live" situation (a
real heist, real stealthy sneaking, lockpicking in a lived-in location, a
real fight/duel with someone instead of a trainer, etc.). The latter,
experience gained "in the field", has a higher value than experience
gained only through training or repetition.
Concerning specialisation, though you don't have character classes, you
do have professions, or specialisations, if you will. There's plenty to
choose from, but at any given time, your character can only have three
specialisations. These specialisations don't limit the skills you can
use and increase, but they do emphasize certain types of skills
(depending on the contents of the specialisation), so those are given a
certain degree of preference when it comes to investing in them. One
specialisation always covers several skills, from several skill types
(though not necessarily all types).
Crucially, as the specialisations are character development guidelines,
not rigid classes, you can actually change your character's
specialisation over time. You (gradually) abandon a certain
specialisation, then you can choose a different one. Or two, if you've
abandoned two, or even three, if all three. However, if you have no
prior experience in a new specialisation, whatsoever, you'll be starting
from square one or relatively low within that new character
specialisation. If you have some prior experience with a specialisation,
you'll have more experience built up in the skills of that
specialisation, from earlier.
Obviously, the aforementioned sentences mean that you can return to a
specialisation you focused on earlier and re-adopt it again as your
character guideline. The key things are that: 1.) adopting and
abandoning a specialisation and learning with it / gathering experience
always takes a certain amount of time (i.e. it's not completely instant)
2.) the maximum of specialisations is three at a time (so, if e.g. you
want a fourth one, you'll have to abandon one from your current trio,
then adopt that as the new third one).
Though the player character is not forced to adopt a specialisation -
theoretically, they can play without one, if they like - it helps to
have at least one, to provide a bit of focus for the character.
Regardless of whether a player character has 0, 1, 2 or 3
specialisations, they can always invest into stats and skills that
aren't covered at all by any of their specialisations. If you have three
particular specialisations, but decide to invest in a skill outside of
them, it's perfectly possible. You just won't get as much of a "boost"
to the skill improvement as you would if the skill was under one of your
specialisations.
(Sidenote: Of course, not all stats can be improved, some are dependent
entirely on the environment, but a handful can be occassionally improved
over time. Most of the improvement lies within the skills, though, and
in the abilities that some skills have as a subsystem of sorts.)
The character skills you don't utilise for a long time (months, years of
in-game/in-story time) lead to your character slowly losing experience
invested in them (especially if they're meant to be skills you can
easily forget) and the performance of your character in a particular
long-dormant skill will lower accordingly. It won't cartoonishly
disappear or anything, but if you haven't used a skill in a very long
time, your character might need to re-increase it a bit, or maybe
re-learn some things (at least those beyond the basics). Certain skills
are slightly more or slightly less prone to being affected by this
partial loss of experience.
For example, you were pretty good at lockpicking, you've grown to really
feel what your hands are doing with the tools while picking a lock,
etc., but you were no lockpicking master. Something got in the way and
for various reasons, you hadn't lockpicked for two or three years. Then
your character needs to lockpick and realises they're a bit rustier at
it. They still know how to do it, in terms of knowledge, in terms of
hand movements, etc., but it's become less "second-nature" to them than
before. Over time, they'll have to relearn that "deeper feel" they had
for the skill in earlier years. Obviously, if a particular skill isn't
that easy to forget, especially when a character has long-term ingrained
experience with it, it's very unlikely the existing experience would
vanish completely. The character learns to ride a bike, or a horse, and
after not doing so for a long time, they might be a little uncertain at
first while trying it again, but they won't be completely clueless about
how to do that particular thing. (As they say in the real world, it's
hard to forget how to cycle, especially if you have a few months or
years of experience with it, even if you hadn't cycled for years.)
Thing is, you can't just state you're doing something. You have to actually do it.
Want to "GIT GUD" e.g. at polearm or staff fighting ? Go visit a
reliable trainer and spend some time there. Just for a bit of practice
via sparring. Or practice your gambling skills with someone adequately
experienced (doesn't even need to be a trainer), etc. Alternatively,
maybe your character just needs a rest, socializing and reassurance with
friends, so you'll spend your downtime having a beer, picking apart the
latest gossip, intel, or just venting personal worries and such.
This makes it more interesting for player characters to manage their
downtime. You can't be in two places at the same time, so you have to
figure out your current priorities. The game is actually fairly
narrativist in approach, so there is no "lesser" use of a character's
downtime. If they prefer to focus on something, they can. Even just
having a thoughtful or informative conversation with someone can be
beneficial to the player character. The various skills are there to
serve the various characters' adventures (individual or teamwork-based),
rather than the skills being self-serving, for their own sake.
To balance things out, it's not all that hard to increase your
experience values in a skill. Generally, I try to limit any frustrations
that might pop up, since the primary goal is to have things be fluid,
engaging and fun. The skills and gear and such are only important
insofar as your characters can use them to achieve things. It's not a
'murder-hobo' type of game, but one where characters haveto achieve
things more through exploration, cunning and finesse. The characters and
their personal adventures are basically at the heart of the gameplay,
with the skills and gear only tools.
The point is that the players are encouraged not to treat downtime as a
boring routine. They're encouraged to change up things, depending on
what they'd like to do. If a character decides they're going for a walk
in the city, or even the countryside (alone or with someone), they can
do that. There's no schedules to plan, or anything of the sort. The
player just decides and they do what they decide to do.
Do note that I explicitly wrote in the above posts that this only
deteriorates a bit if you don't use it for a veeery looong time. Many
months, more than a year, two years of in-universe time. If you don't
use a skill for a few days or a week, nothing happens, no decrease.
Are any of the skills listed in my earlier post a bit on the iffy side ?
Do any feel redundant ? Or cover too little or too much ?
As I've mentioned earlier, I prefer a "less is more" design approach.
partly because it's also more pleasant and readable to players that way.
I don't need 30 billion skill ideas, I think a few general archetypes
are sufficient. However, am I forgetting or overlooking something ? Not
sure.
Concerning the skill trees, one of the reasons I decided to adopt them
for some of the skills structure was when I thought long and hard about
structuring the combat skills and the artisan skills.
My structural train of thought when it comes to the skillset hierachy goes as follows:
Type of skill (skillset) -> Skill (individual entries) ->
Abilities (subsets of a particular Skill, advanced through skill trees)
In the case of the Artisan skills, I felt it was obvious that skill
trees allow characters to develop certain crafting skills in a more
custom manner. This would avoid me needing to add 70+ different crafting
skills for every thing imaginable, making the Artisan skills absurdly
bloated compared to the rest. You instead have a few broad categories of
crafting skills, and all the individual crafting knowledge and
abilities for a player character are under one of those categories. You
learn the basics of a craft, then you can branch out in the direction
you want to. Learning new stuff is more difficult if it's new to the
character and they have less of a basis in that particular kind of
crafting. And if they already have some basic experience in the area,
it's a bit less difficult to learn. If a character knows basic
woodworking and has learnt how to carve themselves a spoon, or assemble a
small wooden lantern, then they'll be able to grasp how to craft a
simple, weaker wooden crossbow much easier, than if they had never held a
carving knife, chisel, drill or saw before, in their entire life.
The combat skills, namely Melee combat skills and Ranged combat skills,
were the other two skill areas where I realised early on that skill
trees might be the best structural solution, at a micro level. In the
Movement skills, I only have about six or seven skills in total, so I
wanted each of the two combat skill overviews to be similarly simple.
Meaning, for both melee and ranged, you'd get only a few general skills
that make sense for each type of combat, and under each individual skill
for either Melee or Ranged, you'd get a skill tree on developing
particular combat abilities. A particular skill would still govern a
particular combat ability, but you can choose which combat ability it
is.
For example, you're investing in the Thrusting skill in Melee, and you
can choose to focus on Spear/Polearm thrusts, Knife-fighting thrusts, or
on Swordfighting thrusts, as more specific abilities. Within these, you
can then learn the basics of e.g. sword thrusting, then more and more
detailed abilities on thrusting with a one-handed sword,
hand-and-a-half, or a two-hander, then with a specific type of
one-handed sword, etc., or a specific style of thrust from a particular
swordfighting tradition. (When it comes to fighting traditions, I wanted
to draw upon the known and documented European martial arts traditions,
because it feels natural and fits the strongly historicist tone of my
setting. Doing fictional equivalents of stuff like the Liechtenauer
tradition or Meyer tradition or Fiore tradition in swordfighting, or the
French poleaxe fighting tradition, or Polish-Lithuanian sabre-fighting
tradition makes perfect sense. However, I didn't want to ape what games
like 7th Sea had already done years ago, where a country's fighting
tradition was basically a whole separate skill. So, relegating this
level of detail down to a skill tree level felt reasonable. If a player
character in my game wants to learn a very particular fighting
tradition, after learning the absolute defeault basics, they can, but
they don't have to if they find it superfluous.) Similarly, in Ranged
combat, you might decide to focus on your bow draw skill, and you can
develop this towards a certain (cultural) style of bow draw, depending
on what fits the character's current needs or preferences.
When it comes to Social and diplomatic skills, I realised that skills
like language learning, or a character's cultural knowledge, could also
be branched gradually, by way of simple skill trees. So that's one other
area where they are definitely present. It is entirely possible I will
add skill trees to some of the other skill types as well, beyond their
current availability in Artisan skills, Melee combat skills, Ranged
combat skills, and some of the Social skills. I only want to do it where
it makes the most sense and where it would be the most flexible for
players, for the sake of variety and enjoyability.
One design guideline I've always tried with my project thus far, for
years, was "Add depth, but avoid adding complicated-to-understand
features and structures". I consider it better to try and keep gameplay
relatively simple and interconnected, though without losing more
interesting details. Details that make it feel less generic (and more
unique to its own fictional setting).
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Copyright
(C) 2017 - 2024 P. Molnár
(C) 2017 - 2024 Knight-Errant Studios
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